Foot:
A unit of two or more stressed and unstressed syllables in a
verse line. Example:
The cur/ few tolls / the knell / of part/ ing day,
In this line there are five feet each consisting of an
unstressed ( syllable followed by a
stressed ( ) syllable. In English the following are the principal feet:
Iamb or iambus (adj. iambic) =
unstressed + stressed
Trochee (adj. trochaic) = =
stressed + unstressed
Anapaest
(adj. anapaestic) = =
unstressed+unstressed+stressesd
Dactyl (adj.
dactylic)= = stressed + unstressed +
unstressed
Spondee (adj. spondaic) = 11 = stressed + stressed
Literary Terms : Classicism, Climax, Circumlocution or Periphrasis, Comic Relief, Conceit
Literary Terms : Classicism, Climax, Circumlocution or Periphrasis, Comic Relief, Conceit
Pyrrhic (adj. pyrrhic) = =unstressed +unstressed
Amphibrach (adj.amphibraic)— —
—unstressed+stressed+unstresse— Amphimacer=/u/ = stressed+ unstressed +
stressed
Bacchius = = unstressed + stressed + stressed
Antibacchius = = stressed + stressed + unstressed
The most common of these feet are ianlb, anapaest, trochee
an dactyl. (see Jamb, Anapaest, Trochee and Dactyl). S.T, Coleridge'
'Lesson for a
boy" provides us with examples of almost all English feet:
Trochee / trips from
/ long to / short;
From long / to long /
in sol/emn sort
Slow spon/dee stalks; / strong foot! / Yet ill/ a ble
Ever to / come up with / Dactyl tri/ syllable.
I am/bics march / from short / to long;
With a leap / and a
bound / the swift An/ apaests throng
One sylla/ble long, with / one stort at / each side,
Amphibra/chys hastes with / a stately / stride.
Among these, iambic and anapestic feet are used to rising
rhythm as in these feet voice gradually rises higher. Similarly, trochaic and
dactylic feet are used to falling rhythm as in these feet voice gradually falls
down. Rising rhythm is natural in English verse.
A "type" or "kind" of literature. The
major genres are: poetry, drama, fiction, lyric, epic, mock-epic, tragedy,
comedy, novel, short story, essay, etc.
Hamartia:
Hamartia is an error or a flaw for which the hero of a
tragedy falls from the zenith of his success to the nadir of his misery. It is
also called tragic flaw. Dr. Faustus' thirst for unlimited power and pleasure
in Dr. Faustus, King Lear's error of judgement in King Lear, Hamlet's
indecision in Hamlet and Macbeth's high ambition in Macbeth are the causes of
their tragic doom. Each of these flaws is known as hamartia. If the flaw is
pride it is called hubris.
Heroic
couplet:
A pair of iambic pentameter Verse lines which rhyme together.
Example :
But when/ to mis/chief mor/ tals bend/ their will
How soon/ they find/ fit ins/ truments/ of ill!
(Pope: The Rape of the Lock)
Each of these lines consists of five iambic feet. In other
words, each line consists of five pairs of syllables and in each pair the first
syllable is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed. Such five feet
arranged in a verse line are called iambic pentameter. When two such iambic
pentameter lines end with similar sounds as in these lines (will=ill) they are
called heroic couplet. Pope and Dryden are masters of this. [see Foot]
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